Graduation Semester and Year
2022
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Quantitative Biology
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Matthew K Fujita
Abstract
Whiptail lizards of the genus Aspidoscelis are a complex of both sexual and asexual species with distributions in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. The parthenogenetic lineages arose through hybridization events between divergent sexual species; further backcrossing of the diploid parthenogens to the parentals is possible, and even hybridization with a third species produce triploid lineages. Here, we leverage the unique biology of whiptail lizards to evaluate and compare gut microbial communities between reproductive modes, investigate whether host genetic variation correlates with microbial diversity, and characterize MHC class II beta genes.
Keywords
Microbiome, MHC, Parthenogenesis, Reptile, Teiidae
Disciplines
Biology | Life Sciences
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Currie, Kathleen, "Microbial Diversity and Immunogenetics of Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis)" (2022). Biology Dissertations. 217.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/biology_dissertations/217
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington